Quantifying the effect of variability in food quality on energy transfer and secondary production in a coastal marine food web

近年来，稳定同位素和脂肪酸已成为追踪海洋食物网能量转移的流行工具。然而，一个关键的假设，即在食物网底部附近可获得的食物的成分和质量的变化对更高营养水平的生产产生可测量的影响，尚未得到适当的测试。大多数这类研究只使用一种或另一种技术（即稳定同位素或脂肪酸）来追踪能量流。虽然在实验室研究中已经结合了其中的一些因素，但所使用的条件范围通常超出了现场通常遇到的实际条件范围。迄今为止，几乎没有研究直接测量海洋食物链底部（即浮游植物）附近的食物质量变化在多大程度上（甚至是否）在自然野外条件下对次级生产（即浮游动物生产）产生可检测的反应。

In recent years, stable isotopes and fatty acids have emerged as popular tools for tracing energy transfer in marine food webs. However, a key assumption, that variations in the composition and quality of food available near the base of the food web produce measurable effects in production at higher trophic levels has yet to be properly tested. Most studies of this sort have only used either one technique or the other (i.e. either stable isotopes or fatty acids) to trace energy flow. Although some of these elements have been combined in lab studies, the range of conditions used are generally outside the realistic range of conditions typically encountered in the field. To date, virtually no studies have directly measured the extent to which (or even whether) variations in food quality near the base of the marine food chain (i.e. phytoplankton) do produce a detectable response in secondary production (i.e. zooplankton production) under natural field conditions.